Russian Hackathon Will Bring Developers To Compete For Prizes, Open To Foreigners

Fintech 2.0 Hackathon to Take Place in St. Petersburg, Russia, November 5-6, participation is open to remote contestants via Skype.

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Fintech 2.0, a hackathon dedicated to the development of new technologies, including AI, for smart banking and financial sectors will take place in St. Petersburg, Russia on November 5-6. The official languages of the event are Russian and English, and participation is open to remote contestants via Skype.

Bringing developers together

The stated goal of Fintech 2.0 is to bring together developers who are specialized in the solutions in the banking and financial sectors, in order to produce products and explore new technologies in such areas as trading risk management, mobile payments, and retail banking.

The event takes place in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia and a major financial hub, with the support of Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE), on November 5 and 6, 2016.

It will be a platform for the developers to test and refine their ideas and products, as well as for several prominent speakers to give their perspective on the current state and future opportunities of the industry of financial technologies.

Sberbank, Skolkovo and Waves are just some of the partners of the event, and their representatives will both deliver their speeches, and serve as judges at the next stage of Fintech 2.0: the attendees will spend 24 hours coding, testing and pitching their solutions, trying to win the prizes.

Participants of the hackathon have the choice to compete individually or in teams. The event takes place at Pr. Medikov, 3/1, St. Petersburg, but foreign participants are also welcome to attend it remotely, via Skype.

How to attend

Fintech 2.0 represents a great opportunity for individual developers and companies to both test their ideas and pitch their products, as well as to increase their network of contacts in the Fintech industry.

If you wish to attend the event in person, you should apply for participation here. The event begins at 10:00, November 5, at Pr. Medikov, 3/1, St. Petersburg.

If you have a product, which you would like to pitch during the hackathon final via Skype, you have to send a presentation and description of your project to Info@sci-guide.com beforehand, in order to get an invitation.

Fintech in Saint Petersburg and Russia

Fintech 2.0 is the first hackathon dedicated solely to the industry of financial technologies to be held in the former capital of Russia. The city of St. Petersburg is the second most populous in the country, and remains a prominent center of industry, finance and technology.

The of the country’s largest banks, Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank, as well as numerous technological companies, including those specialized in enterprise software, maintain their operations in St. Petersburg.

Overall, the environment for the development of financial technologies in Russia was notoriously iffy for the past several years. However, that situation seems to be changing.

For example, in September 2016, the Ministry of Finance announced that it will not go through with the proposed legislation to ban Bitcoin activities, which has been in the process of being drafted since 2014.

Back in May, the Ethereum Russia 2016 event took place in Skolkovo, Russia’s counterpart to the Silicon Valley. Vitalik Buterin has attended the event in person, announcing that Ethereum is to open a Blockchain research center in partnership with the Skolkovo Foundation.

Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank, was talking about making significant investments into the development of Blockchain technologies in late 2015.

One can see how these events line up to create an impression of a country finally prepared to become competitive in Fintech, and the upcoming hackathon is yet another indication of that.